Empty
by Pixielight
Summary: She had the perfect life, the perfect family. Now it's just the perfect lie. Who will be able to save Hermione from herself when no one's there to notice?
1. Welcome home sweet angel

Chapter one: "Welcome Home Sweet Angel"

Summery: The agonizing train ride home and everything that follows.

All through the train you could hear the joyful laughter of children happy and ready for their summer vacation. For most the loss of the headmaster was simply nothing to be too worried about. Although you could find many of them whispering, wondering what had happened to what many described as the greatest wizard the ever lived. Someone would simply come in and replace the old man, that was just the way things worked. It was the way things had always been.

At the end of the train in the last compartment sat a group of six. But unlike the peers they were not laughing and talking about what they would be doing over the summer. Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, Ronald and Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood sat in an uncomfortable silence. Hermione looked out the window trying her hardest not to notice the piercing green eyes across from her. Harry Potter had spent all of his life losing the ones that he loved and now he had lost the one person who had given him a second chance at life. It may not have been all that the old man had planned but it was a chance that had almost, if not for his mother's sacrifice, been stolen from him any three months after his birth. When she did chance a glance his way you could see the burning rage in his eyes. Voldemort had spent his lifetime taking things away from him, and he was ready to fight back. He may not have gotten everything in perfect order yet but he was ready to finish it when the time came, he had all the rage it took to make even a good god fearing man a murderer.

What she saw in his eyes made her want to cry out. To hold him close and protect him form the rest of this cruel world. But Harry was there only chance at peace and she knew that no matter what she did she could not stop him from what was his destiny, no matter how much she wanted to. So the silence that had fallen around them continued without interruption. All of them feeling the full force of the tremendous loss the wizarding world had suffered just days before. They would all spend the rest of their lives, how ever long that might be, remembering how they felt at this moment.

When the lunch trolley came by hey paid little attention to the nice old women. So she simply just pasted them by muttering to herself. As evening came and they got closer to London they all became extremely jumpy and on edge. They all wanted to go home. Hermione at least would be able to escape a little bit of her pain. She had a good and supportive home to return to, Harry did not.

Only when the train began to slow did any of them realize how long it had been. As the watched the train pull in to platform 9 ¾ with little to no interest. They hauled their trunks down from the racks and found the nearest trolley. As had become usual not a single one of them said a word. As the reached their families all that was exchanged between the friend's were a few waves and halfhearted smile.

Harry watched as Hermione walked away, not knowing that it would be the last time he saw even that magnificent halfhearted smile again.

Hermione noticed that her parents were being unusually quiet. She had no desire to disrupt something she had become too accustomed to. The first hour and a half of the two-hour ride home remained uninterrupted. Her mother was the first of them to speak.

" Hermione darling, we have something's we need to tell you, to explain to you." Abigail Granger said from the front seat. Abby flipped the front visor down and opened the mirror so that she could see when she had her daughter's full-undivided attention. It took five minutes for Hermione to turn her gaze to her mother, only then did Abby speak again. " Your father and I have spent the last few months. We have decided that… it might be… better… if we… if we separated for a while."

Abby looked back at her daughter, not knowing how to judge by the look on her face. So she turned her gaze away.

Hermione simply looked at her mother in the mirror. She could see that the woman was waiting for a response, but what the hell was she supposed to say! All she could even think was that her life had officially fallen apart. Everything around her seemed to be getting smaller. Everything was suddenly caving in. all of the emotion she had worked so hard to detain went through her like a flash flood.

" What?" she whispered, Abby was amazed she had even been able to hear Hermione's short response.

" We are going to take a sort of break." Abby answered trying to stay calm. When her estranged husband snorted at her answer all Abby could do was hang her head and sigh.

" Why the hell try to sugar coat it Abby? She's fifteen fucking years only. I think she, of all people, would know what the word divorce means. Why pussy foot about it Abigail. You'll just be wasting you damn time." Alexander Granger all but yelled from the driver's seat.

Abby just slumped she shoulders on the verge of tears. " Well then are you going to tell her why? Are you going to fess up to what you did? Go on tell her Alex! Tell her why this is happening!" Abby paused and watched the man sitting next to her. She knew he would say nothing and she was not about to tell her daughter what her father had been up to while she had been at school. " I didn't think so. So long as you are not going to tell her what you've been up to I'll sugar coat anything I damn well please, and you are going to stay the fuck out of it!" She was so tired of her husband. She knew she shouldn't have said anything like that in front of Hermione but she couldn't stop herself.

" What are you talking about mom?" cam a panicked voice in the back seat, " Dad what I she talking about?" She looked frantically between her parents. Thinking of the fact that they were hiding something from her brought tears to her eyes. " Someone tell me what the HELL is going on!" Hermione all but screamed. She was tired of everything and everyone, and by goddamn it someone was going to be straight with her and give her the answer's she deserved. She continued to look between her parent's. The confused and frantic look in her eyes had changed to a burning cold rage that could have matched Harry's.

When the car pulled into the drive her father quickly got out of the car and headed into the house. She and her mother were still sitting in the car in complete silence.

" Just tell me something, please?" Hermione pleaded with her mother, " Anything?"

" We… it's just… its just that…" Abby looked in the mirror again. She had no idea what she was suppose to say, " WE don't love eachother anymore Hermione." _'There' _Abby thought, _' I said my part.'_

Abby looked at Hermione in the back seat before going inside the house.

Hermione sat in the back seat of the car for a while. Only when her mother came out two hours latter to help her get her things and to tell that dinner was ready did Hermione even try to move. She never thought, that of all her friends, she would be the first one to be mentally and emotional drained. She was afraid that she would never feel again.

Lying in her bed that night she heard her parents fighting. She could hear her mothers screams mixed in with breaking glass. In that moment she realized that she had never heard her parents fight before. Suddenly she heard her mother's screams cut off as something, most likely Abby, was slammed into a wall. She could hear her father muffled voice, and then her mother crying while her father made his way upstairs. Hermione rolled over to face the window just as her bedroom door was open. She had no doubt that it was her father at the door, she could still hear her mother's cries downstairs. She heard her father let out a relieved sigh when he thought she was asleep. When the door to her room closed she let out the breath that she had been holding. It took Hermione three hours to cry herself to sleep.


	2. Drunk and Disorderly

Chapter Two: Broken Home.

Everything had changed. Almost over night and Hermione found it was getting harder and harder to get a grip on her surroundings. It was like all the rooms had changed. They no longer felt warm and welcoming but felt cold. This place was no longer the home she had known. She wished she had taken the offer to go straight to the Weasley's instead of coming to this place. She couldn't even call it home any more. Picture's kept disappearing and so did many of the things she had made in art class at primary school. Her mother bought dishes once a month now. She told Hermione that she was simply losing them. Her parents had always thought that she had been sleeping during their fights and she had no desire to tell them other wise. So she lay in her bed at might and listened to her fathers drunken yelling and her mother's desperate plea's.

On this particular night it wasn't her father yelling. In fact he wasn't even speaking at all, he mother was. She had turned her on her portable CD player and had tried to drown them out, but it wasn't working, so she simply turned it off and ignored what ever it was that her mother was screaming about. With a book in hand Hermione crossed to her bedroom window. Suddenly she heard the front door open, looking down below her she could see the ray of light it cast across the front yard, then it closed. She watched as her father crossed the grass.

' _Strange'_ she thought, _' If he's leaving why isn't he heading for his car?'_

Her question was answered when Gloria, the widow that lived just across the street opened the door and gave Alex and overly intimate greeting. Hermione was disgusted. It wasn't because the widow was old, actually it was quite the contrary. She was only a couple years younger than her mother but only looked in her twenty's. She had been the trophy wife a rich executive some thirty years her senior.

What upset Hermione was that this was the real reason behind the divorce. What? Had her father thought that she wouldn't notice? Perhaps he thought it didn't matter because his "little angel" would be coming with him when he left. Either way she didn't care. She heard her mother come up the stairs. She also heard the sobs Abigail was trying to hide so she wouldn't wake her daughter. Once the bedroom door closed and Hermione was sure that her mother was asleep she quietly headed down stairs. She hadn't decided yet if she would simply walk over to that miserable excuse for a women's house or if she would wait for him to come home.

She decided on the first because she wasn't even sure if he would be returning home. As quietly as she could Hermione opened and closed the front door. Thankful that neither the porch light nor the entry light were on. He could look out the window and he wouldn't be able to see her coming.

Looking around to be sure none of the neighbor's would see her stalking over to Gloria's massive home. Quickly, she practically ran across the street, and she was ready for quite a fight and they were both going to get a firm telling off. Checking behind her again she checked to see of the front door was locked.

' Stupid twit.' She thought, ' Couldn't even wait long enough to lock the damn door.'

She opened the door and then instead closing it softly so not to get caught she slammed it shut behind her. She heard the squeal form upstairs and headed in that general direction. As she proceeded to stomp up the stairs. She had only five more steps' to go when her father appeared at the top, ready to fight off any intruder. He paled at the sight of an extremely pissed off Hermione. His eyes widened upon the sight of his only child.

The look on his face said plainly that he had never meant for her to find out about the affair. And the look on Hermione's face said plainly that she didn't care on what he had intended. She was here for a fight and she meant to win.

" What the hell do you think you are doing?" she asked her father in a sickeningly sweet tone. Alex was in no way fooled.

" I am here because I want to be, not to mention that I am an adult and do not have to ask your permission." Alex said trying to sound less afraid. It wasn't working. He knew that Hermione was now old enough to perform magic outside of school and had no desire to test what she could do.

" I didn't say you needed my permission. I asked you what the heel you think you are doing. I am well aware that you are and adult daddy darling. Now ask me if I give a damn?"

She was challenging him. His own daughter was challenging him. What the hell was he supposed to do? What was he supposed to say? At the moment all he could do was stammer.

" Alex baby who is it?" Gloria asked as she stuck her head out if the bedroom door.

Hermione ignored the insufferable women and her father couldn't find a single word to say to either of them even if he had wanted to. Hermione had caught him off guard and at the moment he couldn't even string two words together.

Hermione resumed her walk up the stairs and with every step she took forward her father took a step back. Gloria, sick of waiting for an answer, began to walk down the hall when she saw Alex walking backwards. She stopped only a few feet away when she saw Hermione. All Gloria could think was oh shit when she saw the look on Hermione's face. She then turned and ran back to the bedroom door and locked it. She hadn't been stupid enough to test Hermione's temper.

A few more step's and Alex realized he had nowhere to run and hide. He could feel the wall at his back. He didn't waste his time to look around because that would have been a grave mistake. He knew that his daughter had a mean right hook and he wasn't going to give her the chance to use it on him.

" Well daddy darling, aren't your going to answer me?" she said with a wicked smile. She looked like a crazed lunatic, and she was in the mood to kill, or at least it looked like it from where he was standing.

Alex opened his mouth to say something but he was finding it increasingly hard to breathe.

" I guess not then." Hermione said, " Then I guess I'll do all the talking. I want you to go home right now. I do not want to hear any arguing when I get there. You will not go after my mother. She is sleeping and doesn't even know that I am here. You are going to sit on the sofa in the living room and stay quietly seated until I arrive home. Is that understood?"

All Alexander Granger could do was shake his head numbly. When his daughter made a move to the bedroom door where Gloria was hiding he made the mistake of taking his eyes off of Hermione. Suddenly everything went black and he was seeing stars. He felt her fist hit him again and again. When he was on the ground she gave him one final kick and then laughed. It was sick menacing laugh that made him sick to the stomach.

" Hit my mother again and I swear I'll kill you next time." Hermione whispered in his ear. He could hear her leaving. Walking down the hall down the stairs and out the door. Suddenly Gloria was at his side and she was crying. The threat his daughter, his own flesh and blood, had given him still ringing in his ears. Then the world went black and all the pain left his body.

Gloria looked down at the limp man in front of her, not knowing what to do. She wouldn't dare call the police everything was suspicious enough already. She simply waited for him to wake up. So she sat on the floor crying until she could barely see waiting, hoping that nothing was horribly wrong.

The next day Abby noticed that Hermione was just a bit more chipper than usual. She was still very upset because Alex hadn't come home again last night, and yet she was also oddly relieved.

" Good morning mama." Hermione said from the other side of the breakfast bar, " So what's for breakfast?"

Abby couldn't help but smile. She had everything that mattered in her world smiling at her. " I dunno… I was thinking maybe… pancake's." when Hermione's eye's lit up Abby remembered why she had married her husband. Now that it was over between them her life could only get better. She had a wonderful daughter whom she loved with all her heart and that was all that mattered. What made her day better was watching Alex walking in and noticing the fresh bruises he had on his face and arm's.

' For once he was the one getting beaten.' Abby thought to herself.

Hermione noticed that her mother was looking at something behind her and turned to look. When she saw Alex she smiled that wicked little smile that made his skin crawl. She cocked an eyebrow as if to say ' I dare you to tell her.'

Alex simply turned his gaze toward the ground and headed up the stairs. Hermione smiled to herself and turned back to her mother. They spent the morning and most of the after noon baking all of their favorite treats and pigging out on cookie dough.

When dinner came everyone was quiet and not a word was said. Occasionally Abby would look up from her plate and smile at her wonderful daughter. She would never forget what Hermione had said to her that after noon.

Flashback

" Sweet heart," Abby started, " When everything is finalized… I know I shouldn't be asking you… but which one of us are you going to live with? I mean if you don't want to answer me…" but she didn't get to finish because Hermione cut her off.

" I'll live with you. You have always been there for me and you mean a lot more to me than dad does. Besides who would I spend hours cooking with?" Hermione asked in such a happy tone that made Abby's heart ache.

End Flashback

Hermione went upstairs to her room to catch up on her reading. Given everything that had happened she hadn't been able to concentrate on anything the past few weeks. When the front door opened and then slammed closed she crossed to the window and watched as her father got into his car and speed down the street. Hermione simply watched him leave, part of her hoping he would never come back and part of her wishing he would just die and leave them alone. Either way she thought she and her mother would be happier... she had no idea how wrong she was.

She spent most of the night with her nose in one book or another; a few times she had ventured out to grab a snack or a glass of something to drink. Some time's she would stop and have a conversation with her mother about one thing or another. At ten o'clock she had her mother sat down to watch the news and spent a good hour after word complaining about the government and all the things that had seen.

Hermione was in her room reading a book when she saw them. From somewhere outside she could see red and blue lights. She quickly crossed to the window to see where they were going. When they stopped outside of her house an began to make there way up the front walk she ran from her room. She made it just in time to see her mother sink to the floor in tears.


	3. All Falls Apart

Chapter three: All Falls Apart.

Hermione watched as if outside of her own body. The bright lights of the police vehicles slightly blinding her. She knew what had happened even before the younger officer set a hand on her shoulder and said the words she had thought only hours before she would give anything to hear. He was dead now… her father was dead.

Part of her wanted to celebrate but the other half wanted to curl up in a dark corner and break down. She ignored both parts and settled in next to her mother.

" He appears to have been drunk." The older officer stated. " He was driving on the wrong side of the road when another car turned the corner and he swerved to prevent a collision. We found his car in the river upside down. We did all we could for him but he was pronounced dead at the scene. I'm sorry." The man hung his head. Her mother was now in terrible shakes and was having a little trouble breathing.

" The bastard." Abby whispered, " First he cheats and now he dies because he thought he could drown it all in drink." She stood and began to yell now, startling the officers. " Well you can do what ever you please with his body. I no longer want anything to with the poor excuse of a man." Abby stalked off toward the kitchen and began to bake. Baking had always calmed her down when she was in any kind of mood.

Hermione said good bye to the officers and watched them drive down the street and around the corner. She made a beeline toward Gloria's house. She didn't bother to knock she simply walked in and found her sitting in the living room as if waiting for someone to come and tell her why the police had been at the house.

" He's dead now." Hermione said. Surprising the women. She had a happy note in her voice when she had said it. " He's dead." She said again. Beginning to laugh now. " And you are all alone once again. I'll be making sure to tell the other women to watch their men around you. If I have to scream it at the top of my lungs. Why don't I just go out and do so right now? Everyone is out there." With that Hermione walked out the front door as Gloria began to scream for her to stop.

" Listen!" she screamed as he walked across the yard. " All the women have to watch their husbands now. This woman is the reason my father is dead. He cheated on my mother with her. And when my mother and I turned away from him because of what he had done he wen t and got himself sorted and killed himself. Watch your husbands less she ruins your homes and families as well." Turning back toward the house behind her she saw Gloria standing in the doorway looking humiliated and angry.

" You little bitch." She screamed. " Why don't you tell them about how you beat him? How you spoke to him what you said. Who do you think you are to judge me? You're nothing but a child, and worthless one at that. You're gone most of the year. You think you're so smart and special because you got into some privet school well your not. Your nothing but a spoiled brat."

" You may be right about that. I did beat my father. But you leave out that it was in your house after he'd been in your bed. Now if you don't mind I have better things to do than listen to your jealous tirade. You hate me because I am smarter and better than you will ever be. Have a good day Gloria." Hermione then turned and made her way back to her own home.

The hours passed into days and the days to weeks. Little by little Hermione began to feel the weight of her father's death. As much as she had hated him when he died she could not quiet the memories of her childhood. She could still hear his laughter in the halls and rooms. The Christmas mornings they had shared. And little by little she began to sink into to darkness. She watched as her mother began to sink further and further away from the world. Yes she had hated her husband toward the end but she had loved him more than anything else in the world. She, much like her daughter, was blaming herself.

Abby would walk from room to room mumbling to herself. She said thing like ' If only I had been a better wife.' Or ' If only I had loved him more.' Not that doing those things would have changed anything. Deep in her heart Abby knew that the only reason he had ever married her was for Hermione. But even Hermione could not hold him to her.

Watching her mother become a mer shadow was killing Hermione. She began to see her mother less and less. Hermione was trying everything she could to avoid everyday life. She suddenly had no desire to see the outside world. She had tried everything she could and she couldn't quiet the voice that told her that her father's blood was on her hands. Reading was becoming more of a chore instead of an indulgence. Everything she loved to do was slowly becoming her enemy. Nothing could stop her self-accusations from filling every fiber of her being. Even the sun seemed like her enemy. The summer was unmercifully hot and humid. Every time Hermione stepped outside she felt as if her skin was being burned of layer by layer in a matter of moments. Even the night seemed to be punishing her. Even with the heat ebbing away the dampness that hung in the air would soak her cloths in a matter of seconds. Nothing made sense any more.

For the first time in her life Hermione felt like hurting herself. When the feelings first started coming to her she had gone through the house and collected every sharp object she could and made sure that they were all kept out of her reach. Soon after she had placed them all in the attic. The thoughts of suicide were ever present in her mind but Hermione refused to give in to the madness that was slowly starting to consume her.


End file.
